South Korea ‘in Breaking Point’ before the decision of the dismissal of President Yoon | Asia-Pacific

The streets usually calm outside the South Korea Constitutional Court in Seoul are now a political zero for a decision that will determine the future of the country.

Months after Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law and sparked the worst political crisis in South Korea for decades, the court will decide on Friday to maintain the indictment of the suspended president or make him in office.

The name of the district in which the court is Anguk, which means “peaceful country”, an irony which will not be lost for the South Koreans while they are waiting for the court’s decision on the vote of the deputies to welcome Yoon after his bad attempt in December in December to suspend democracy.

More than 14,000 police – more than the tenth of the country’s total force – will be mobilized in Seoul when the verdict is returned on Friday. A radius of 100 meters “vacuum” was imposed outside the courtyard building to prevent demonstrations. Other police buses arrived before the verdict, bringing traffic to a little standard. The old district palaces will end on Friday, depriving people of luck to get a close view of their popular spring flowers.

The security of security will extend far beyond the barricades. The service stations near the court will be closed to prevent criminal fire attacks, and access on the roof to high-rise buildings will be limited to prevent people from jumping or throwing objects. The authorities also plan to prohibit the release of firearms usually used to kill wild animals, with proposals to follow the owners of firearms authorized via GPS on the day of the decision. The Anguk station will close and the lockers of the metro station sealed to prevent bomb threats.

A non-theft area was imposed in the court, the police deployment of the scorching of the signals against unauthorized drones. Eleven schools will close and the sellers were invited to close and remove objects, such as flower pots, which could be used as weapons.

If Yoon survives the decision, he will have achieved an extraordinary political return. If the decision goes against him, he will join a growing list of disgraced South Korean leaders who have challenged the country’s democratic institutions.

In December of last year, Yoon deployed troops in the National Assembly, saying that he had to counter the “anti-state forces” and investigate an alleged electoral fraud. The military deployment lasted only a few hours before the Parliament voted to cancel the declaration, seeing its actions as a takeover.

Yoon is also fighting for survival in a separate criminal trial in which he is accused of having caused an insurrection – a crime which carries a perpetuity or even the death penalty, although South Korea has not performed since 1997.

Weeks of uncertainty have been marked by enormous and sometimes violent demonstrations of the supporters and opponents of Yoon, and confrontations between its security details and the government authorities.

Last weekends, hundreds of thousands of people joined and against Yoon in the center of Seoul, despite the cold.

“People are overwhelmed by fatigue and frustration because … the current crises remain unresolved,” said Lee Han-Sol, an anti-Yoon protester. “Delays have led to an increasing feeling of skepticism.”

His supporters, some of whom have retained the banners inspired by Trump reading “Make Korea Great Again”, insisted that the accusation was illegal. “The Constitutional Court will not be able to ignore us,” said Lee Hye-Sook, 58. “Look at us, we are many of us here.”

With the verdict of the Constitutional Court on the profile dismissal, the authorities do everything possible to prevent new disorders.

An unprecedented security operation is put in place to prevent a repetition of violent violence in January from a Seoul courthouse by Yoon supporters who made dozens of injured police officers. And the officials have not forgotten the tumult of March 2017, when four demonstrators died the day the same court finalized the dismissal of former President Park Geun-Hye.

The court is already partially barricaded, while those declaring loyalty to Yoon, a former prosecutor who flirted with right -wing populism and conspiracy theories since his entry into office in 2022, observed a vigil outside.

“We are putting in place by considering the worst scenarios,” said Lee Ho-Young, acting police chief, while the authorities have declared the highest level emergency status for the day of the decision.

To officially withdraw Yoon from the office, at least six of the eight judges of the Court must approve the request for dismissal adopted by the deputies in mid-December. This would trigger a presidential election which must take place within 60 days. If they don’t, Yoon’s presidential powers will be immediately restored.

Now in its fifth week of deliberations, the court itself became a target of criticism that it evolved too slowly. The decision of the same court to withdraw the park occurred 11 days after the last hearings of its dismissal trial.

“The country and the people are in Breaking Point,” said Kim Min-Seok, a deputy for the Democratic Party of the opposition last month. “We await the decision responsible for the court. An additional delay is abnormal and irresponsible. “

Chung Sung-Il, a 72-year-old anti-Yoon protest, said he expected the court to reject Yoon “100%”, adding: “If it is reintegrated, many dangerous things can happen.”

The acting president, Han Duck-Soo, whose dismissal was canceled by the Constitutional Court at the end of last month, called on the South Koreans to respect the court’s decision on Yoon.

“Whatever the decision made, we must calmly and coldly accept the result in accordance with the principles of the rule of law,” said Han on Wednesday.

The tense atmosphere was delighted by the inflammatory rhetoric of Yoon’s allies. Jeon Kwang-Hoon, an extreme right pastor, told his disciples: “If the Constitutional Court does something different (maintained the dismissal), we will activate the right of the people to resist them and sweep them with a sword.”